Novemb[ris] 9th (82)
Repet[it] coram
Hen: Watkinson.
Responsiones personales Richardi Hanson factae
positionibus et articulis Libelli ex parte
Elizabethae Speight contra eum dati et
exhibiti.
Ad primam positionem respondet refert se ad
Canonicas Sanctiones articulatas (si qua tales sint)
Et al[ite]r non Credit eandem esse veram in aliquo.
Ad secundam positionem respondet Credit eandem esse
veram.
Ad tertiam positionem respondet Credit quod [unresolved contracted clause]
non tenetur [unresolved words] juris et [Constitutionis?]
Provincialis.
Ad quartam et quintam positiones respondet non
Credit eas esse veras in aliquo.
Ad sextam positionem respondet Credit eandem
esse veram.
Ad septimam positionem respondet Credit Credita
Et negat negata.
Richar[d] Hanson.
Alex Squire.
[Image 3 left: blank reverse and later repository stamp.]
19mo Jan:
1682/3
Repet[it] Hen: Watkinson.
Guilielmus Carter de Dewsbur[y] in Com[itatu]
Ebor[acensi] Clothmaker aetatis suae 46 annor[um]
seu circiter testis sup[er] positionibus et [inserted/altered: articulis?] Libelli
ex parte et pro parte Elizabethae Speight con[tra]
Richardum Hanson dati et exhibit[i] product[us]
admiss[us] juratus et Exam[inatus] et primo de notitia
partium Exam[inatus] dicit quod dictam [contracted for Elizabetham?] Speight
per 20 annos et ultra novit dictumque Richardum
Hanson per 6 [deleted: unread] aut 7 annos novit.
Sup[er] tertio art[icu]lo Exam[inatus] dicit That in the latter end of
August last past (the more certaine time he can
not now remember) the ar[ticula]te Richard Hanson [deleted: [was?]; inserted: was]
drinking a glass of Ale in Thomas Speight the
ar[ticula]te Elizabeth Speights husbands house in Dewsbury
ar[ticula]te in Company of [altered: other persons?] this Dep[onen]t and his [deleted: [housewife?]]
Conteste Suzanna Eastwood, and he the s[ai]d Elizabeth
Speight were present when and where the said
Richard Hanson called the s[ai]d Elizabeth Speight
Whore, and a devill, and said that she had [deleted: the / had]
the Devills marke on her, which words he
uttered and spoke [forth?] times over at the least
(as this Dep[onen]t believes)
[The following six physical lines are cancelled. Working reading of the deleted material, unresolved words retained:]
[deleted: and this Dep[onen]t further saith]
[deleted: that [unread run] in [unread] he [unread]]
[deleted: [unread] the s[ai]d Tho: Speight Mr [or unread title] [unread surname]]
[deleted: [unread] in [unread] and one Andrew [unread surname]]
[deleted: of Mirfield came into the house and heard the]
[deleted: said Richard Hanson]
Et al[ite]r nescit deponere.
Sup[er] Quarto art[icu]lo Exam[inatus] dicit quod nescit deponere.
Sup[er] Quinto art[icu]lo Exam[inatus] dicit That in this Dep[onen]ts opinion the
good name and credit of the s[ai]d Elizabeth Speight is much
hurt and impaired by reason of the speaking the words
predeposed for that it has severall times caused
a disagreement betwixt her husband and her. Et al[ite]r
nescit deponere.
[Image 4 left top]
Sup[er] reliquis non Ex[aminatus] de consensu &c. dicit tamen
&c. Et quod non est [unread contraction] affinis &c. nec
curat &c.
William [mark] Carters marke.
Suzanna Eastwood de Rippenden in Com[itatu]
Ebor[acensi] sp[inster] aetatis suae 24 annorum seu circiter
testis ut supra producta admissa jurata et
Exa[minata] et primo de notitia partium Exa[minata] dicit
quod dictam Elizam Speight per 9 menses [contracted word]
aut minus novit dictumque Richardum Hanson
per 5 menses aut eo circiter novit.
Sup[er] tertio art[icu]lo Exa[minata] dicit That in August last past
about a weeke before St. Bartholomews day this
Dep[onen]t went to live at Tho: Speights house in [deleted: Mirfield]
Dewsbury as a Serv[an]t, and saith that [inserted: towards] the latter
end of August afores[ai]d the ar[ticula]te Richard Hanson
was drinking a glass [inserted: or cup] of Ale [deleted: [unread]] in the s[ai]d Thomas
Speights house with one Robert Holworth and some
others whome this Dep[onen]t knows not, when and where
the said Richard Hanson in the presence of the s[ai]d Rob[er]t
Holworth this Dep[onen]t and [deleted: [unread]] her conteste William
Carter and the ar[ticula]te Elizabeth Speight, called her
the s[ai]d Elizabeth Speight a whore, and a devill, &
said that she had the devills marke on her which
words he uttered and repeated a great many
times over. Et al[ite]r nescit deponere.
Sup[er] Quarto dicit quod nescit deponere.
Sup[er] Quinto dicit That in this Dep[onen]ts Judgm[en]t & opinion
the good name fame and reputation of the s[ai]d Elizabeth
Speight is much hurt and impaired by the speaking
[Image 4 right]
the words predeposed for that every one that comes
into the house is ready to cast the same in her
teeth, and for that the speaking thereof has
beene the occasion of Severall fallings out
betweene her the s[ai]d Elizabeth Speight & her
husband. Et al[ite]r nescit deponere &c.
Sup[er] reliquis non Ex[aminata] de consensu &c. dicit
tamen &c.
Suzanna [mark] Eastwood her m[a]rke.
[Image 5 left blank reverse; marginal marks are not additional words.]
In Dei nomine Amen auditis visis et
intellectis ac plenius discussis per Nos Henricum
Watkinson Legum Doctorem Almae Curiae Cons[istorialis] Ebor[acensis]
Officialem principalem [short contracted phrase unread] meritis et circumstantiis
cujusdam causae Diffamationis sive Negotii [unread contraction]
coram nobis in dicta Curia inter Elizam ux[orem] Thomae
Speight partem actricem ex una et Richardum
Hanson partem Ream et Defendentem partibus ex altera
[unread contracted phrase] et praedict[um] [unread] vertiturque adhuc et
pendet indecis[um], oblatoque Libello per dictam partem Actricem
[cujus?] copia ejusdem parti Reae tradit[a] in hac parte In
Dei nomine Amen [unread contraction] Nobis quae quidem
[unread] pro hic lect[is] et insert[is] habemus et haberi volumus
Observatisque omnibus et singulis de jure in hac parte
observandis, Eumque ad [unread contraction] Scientiam nostram sufficientem
in hac Causa ferend[ae] praefatis partibus per nos Judicial[iter]
assignatis [unread] [termino?] adveniente partibus praedictis
Actrice (vid[elicet]) per Johannem Preston, Rea vero per
[primum?] Robertum Squire Notarios publicos eorum respective
procuratores coram Nobis in [inserted: eadem] [cancelled contraction] et Metropolit[ana]
[unread contraction] Ebor[acensi] Judicialiter pro Tribunali publice seden[tibus]
comparentibus ac Sententiam per nos ferri et Justitiam fieri
instanter postulantibus. Ruminatoque primitus per Nos
toto et integro processu in hujusmodi Causa coram Nobis
habito et facto ac diligenter recenso, Invocata
etiam Spiritus Sancti Gratia, maturaque deliberatione
praehabita, de et cum Consilio Jurisperitorum cum quibus
in hac parte communicavimus ad Sententiam nostram definitivam
prolat[uram] [unread contraction] duximus procedend[um] fore et procedimus
in hunc qui sequitur modum In Dei nomine Amen
Quia per acta inactitata deducta proposita narrata
Exhibita allegata probata et confessata comperimus
hucusque et invenimus dictam partem actricem
intentionem suam in dicto Libello deductam et
propositam sufficienter fundasse pariter et probasse
nihilque effectuale ex parte dictae partis Reae allegatum
aut probatum fuisse et esse quod intentionem partis
agentis elidere aut quoquomodo enervaret Idcirco
Nos Henricus Watkinson Legum Doctor Judex
antedictus praefatum Richardum Hanson pro
tanto temeritatis suae excessu in praemissis et ea
committendo Ecclesiastice corrigend[um] et puniend[um] fore
decernimus et declaramus; Nec non in expensis
ex parte et per partem dictae Elizae ux[oris] Thomae Speight
in hac Causa factis et [unread contraction] fiendis condemnamus
et
[Image 6 left]
et ad debitam solutionem earundem efficaciter cogend[um]
et compellend[um] fore pronunciamus etiam decernimus
et declaramus per hanc nostram Sententiam definitivam sive
hoc nostrum finale Decretum quam sive quod
ferimus et promulgamus in his scriptis, Taxationem
vero hujusmodi expensarum nobis aut alii Judici in
hac parte competenti quicunque reservantes et reservamus
etiam in his scriptis.
[Subscription] W[illia]m [or Wm?] S[ear]le [surname reading uncertain].
29no Martij 1683
Lecta et lata per nos
Hen: Watkinson.
[Image 6 right: blank folded area; through-holes and folds do not form further text.]
Speight con[tra] Hanson
Sent[entia].
[Remaining sheet blank with folds, holes and later Borthwick Institute stamp.]
About this case and its sources
The research database records what this source says. Follow these links to the records in Throwing Bones.
All events citing this source in Throwing Bones
Events
- Towards the end of August 1682, Hanson allegedly turned an ale-drinking gathering in Thomas Speight’s Dewsbury house into a repeated denunciation of Elizabeth as “a whore, and a devill,” claiming she had “the devills marke on her.” Carter and Eastwood place Elizabeth among those present; Eastwood names Holworth and describes the words being repeated “a great many times over.” Their testimony records a spoken allegation of diabolical marking, without describing an inspection or the mark’s appearance (CP.H.6009, images 3 right–4 right, art.3).
- 1682-11-09: Richard Hanson’s answers endorsed 9 November 82 respond to Elizabeth Speight’s missing libel. The first refers to canonical provisions, the second and sixth are admitted, the fourth and fifth denied, and the seventh admits what was admitted and denies what was denied. The third is contracted and cannot securely be translated in full; it is not converted into a blanket admission of the speech.
- 1683-01-19: Carter and Eastwood’s depositions recount alleged insults at Thomas Speight’s Dewsbury house towards the end of the previous August. They report Hanson called Elizabeth a whore and a devil and said she bore the Devil’s mark. Eastwood names Holworth among the company. Both witnesses attribute harm to her reputation and quarrels with her husband to the words. Carter’s cancelled account is not merged with the uncancelled evidence. These are sworn reports about the incident, not findings of supernatural conduct.
- 1683-03-29: The sentence delivered 29 March 1683 finds Elizabeth Speight sufficiently established and proved the case in her libel and that nothing effective from Hanson defeated it. Henry Watkinson orders ecclesiastical correction and punishment and condemns Hanson in expenses, reserving taxation to himself or another competent judge. The record does not specify the completed correction or establish payment. Proctors John Preston and Robert Squire are named; the sentence bears a provisional Wm Searle subscription.